Blog - Survivor's Guide to Colichttp://www.survivorsguidetocolic.com/blogentries/Mon, 20 Oct 2014 21:09:08 +0000en-AUSite-Server v6.0.0-16734-16734 (http://www.squarespace.com)Jen Lester&#39;s blog where she talks all things colic and how to deal with a <br/>colicky baby.Snuggled up Tight - Swaddling Methods to Settle Crying BabiesJen LesterMon, 20 Oct 2014 21:09:06 +0000http://www.survivorsguidetocolic.com/blogentries/swaddling52d90363e4b093afad1ad219:530d9967e4b0e5f490d80a5e:5444d7afe4b0f7692c73ebf3Wrapping a baby up snugly simulates the pressure and environment that
babies were familiar with in the womb. A comprehensive review of all the
scientific studies on swaddling published in 2007 concluded that in general
swaddled babies arouse less and sleep longer. Why Swaddle?

Wrapping a baby up snugly simulates the pressure and environment that babies were familiar with in the womb. A comprehensive review of all the scientific studies on swaddling published in 2007 concluded that in general swaddled babies arouse less and sleep longer. One study that compared swaddling with massage found that excessively crying infants cried less when swaddled. Another study found that swaddling can soothe pain in infants.

Any Risks?

Care must be taken to avoid your baby overheating when swaddled.

There can be risks of hip dysplasia, so it is important to take care with swaddling technique. Make sure that your baby’s legs are not bound straight, that there is enough room for the legs to bend up and out at the hips. If your baby has hip dysplasia or is at increased risk of hip dysplasia, please consult your doctor about swaddling before doing it.

To avoid the risk of sudden infant death it is important to ensure that swaddled babies are placed to sleep on their backs and swaddling should be stopped when the baby has started to roll (as it is much harder for them to get back off their tummy when they are swaddled).

Swaddling Techniques

Standard method

Place your muslin on a flat surface in a diamond shape (one corner pointing upwards. Fold the top corner down and place the baby on the muslin with the flat edge at the top in line with the base of the baby’s head.

Wrap one side of the muslin over the baby’s shoulder, across the baby’s chest and tuck it under the baby’s opposite arm and around under the baby’s body. The wrap should be reasonably firm and the excess fabric should be tucked right in under the baby’s body.

Wrap the other side across the baby’s shoulder and around under the baby’s body.

There will be excess fabric at the baby’s feet. Fold this up and under your baby.

Hands up method

Alternatively you can swaddle your baby with her hands up, so that she still has some hand movement and can self settle with her hands.

Place your muslin on a flat surface in a diamond shape (one corner pointing upwards. Fold the top corner down and place the baby on the muslin with the flat edge at the top in line with the base of the baby’s head.

Tuck one of your baby’s hands underneath the folded down corner, so that it is resting at around chin-height but under the fabric.

Starting on the same side as the tucked in hand, wrap the muslin across the baby’s chest and tuck it under the baby’s opposite arm. The wrap should be reasonably firm and the excess fabric should be tucked in under the baby’s body.

Tuck the baby’s other hand underneath the folded down corner (on the other side), so that it is resting at around chin-height but under the fabric.

Wrap the other side around your baby and tuck it under your baby’s body.

There will be excess fabric at the baby’s feet. Fold this up and under your baby.

Swaddle Suits

For any of you that have bred a budding escape artist (particularly as your little one gets older and stronger), there are some fantastic zip-up swaddle suits on the market that make swaddling a breeze. Some of the swaddle suits on the market allow a baby to have their hands up, which can assist them in self-soothing.

The International Hip Dysplasia Institute recommends that when choosing a swaddle suit you make sure that your baby’s legs can bend up and out at the hips as this position allows for natural development of the hip joints.

Here’s a link to one of my favourite awesome Aussie products: Swaddle Up from Love To Dream. Nope, this isn’t a sponsored link, my hubby and I just loved these so much that I wanted to share them with you. www.lovetodream.com.au

]]>Talking About the UnmentionableJen LesterWed, 08 Oct 2014 09:49:21 +0000http://www.survivorsguidetocolic.com/blogentries/2014/10/8/talking-about-the-unmentionable52d90363e4b093afad1ad219:530d9967e4b0e5f490d80a5e:543500d8e4b047ef6b57cac4I’d like to talk about shaken baby syndrome. I want to bring out into the
open the bad things that can happen when your gorgeous bundle of newborn
joy… just isn’t joyful. I know that its taboo, that it may feel like
‘tempting fate’… but I believe that the consequences of not talking about
it are even scarier.

While I was getting my morning coffee today, I noticed the lead story in one of the papers: “Killer Mum’s Baby Bid”. It was the story of a mum of twins, who after killing one twin and causing the other to be permanently (and severely) disabled, pled guilty to infanticide. She is now seeking access to her remaining child, access that the father is fighting.

The names are suppressed, so I cannot be certain, but I believe that this is the same mother of twin girls who pled guilty to one count of infanticide and one count of recklessly causing serious injury back in March this year. One baby is dead and the other has permanent brain damage, cerebral palsy and cannot walk or talk. Their mother admitted to police that maybe she “shook them too hard”. Both girls had skull fractures and suffered bleeding to the brain.

One innocent little life extinguished almost before it began and another irreparably damaged… it is so tragic that it is hard to find the words. And so mostly we don’t talk about it, except to express our shock and our horror, because it is genuinely hard to fathom how anybody, let alone a mother, could harm a baby.

At the time of the trial, her barrister described her as a “broken woman” who was struggling to find a reason to live. In handing down his judgment, Justice Bongiorno said no punishment he could hand down to the mother would be as severe as the punishment of having to live with what she had done to the twin girls.

In memory of these little girls, I want to start a dialogue about the unmentionable… I’d like to talk about shaken baby syndrome and I want to bring out into the open the bad things that can happen when your gorgeous bundle of newborn joy… just isn’t joyful. I know that its taboo, that it may feel like ‘tempting fate’… but I believe that the consequences of not talking about it are even scarier.

Now, I do not pretend to know all of the facts of this particular case. I’ve only read what was reported in the papers, including that the twins suffered from colic. When interviewed by police the mother said that the “girls were crying all the time and she didn't feel worthy of being a mum because she couldn't help them and they were always in pain.” Those words resonated with me, because my son had colic too. Colic – it is a small word for the ear piercing screaming, clenched little fists and the terrible grimace on his face.

The generally accepted medical definition of colic is a baby who is otherwise healthy and has had all their needs met, but still cries for more than three hours a day, for more than three days in a week, for more than three weeks. Colic is surprisingly common, but often you don’t hear much about it until it happens to your own baby. Estimates vary widely from 5% to 40% of babies being affected, but a middle figure of around 20% is commonly accepted. That’s one in five babies screaming inconsolably for over three hours a day…

Before our son was born, my husband and I were fairly relaxed and reasonably confident. A veteran auntie and uncle, we figured we’d changed our share of nappies and been puked on by our nephews & nieces often enough to have some idea of what the reality of a baby would be like. HA - we had NO IDEA what we were in for!

When the crying began we started out fairly chipper, we smiled at each other and reminded ourselves that we’d expected having a new baby wouldn’t be easy. Then when the crying went on for days… and those days became weeks… that ‘chipper’ mood turned rather desperate.

The crying was rough, really rough. Somewhere very deep in my psyche I believed that a mother should be able to comfort her own baby. So I felt utterly dreadful when nothing seemed to help. Devastated. With this terrible feeling that I was failing my baby, right from the outset. The feelings were deep, primal and so powerful – and I hear those feelings echoed in the quotes from the mother of those twin girls… That’s hard to admit, considering how tragically their story ended.

Then I think about how hard it was for me and try to imagine how I would have coped if I’d had two of them with colic, instead of just one… Would it have broken me too? Could I have snapped and done something dreadful? I’d like to think not, I’d like to think I’m genuinely incapable of that. But, then I think, “well Jen, you had the most supportive husband anyone could wish for, and you had a mum & some sensational friends that really stepped up to help you survive it…” Now I don’t know the full circumstances of this case, but the truth is that after my own experiences, I can see how it could be bad enough for someone to crack…

Now please don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that colic is an excuse for ANY form of bad behaviour. Violence to any person (including and especially babies) is completely unacceptable. Completely unacceptable, no matter what the situation or provocation. And just in case it needs to be said (although it is probably more than obvious here), you should never shake a baby (or child). Not only can cause this your child serious harm, but it will not in any way help you stop their crying. A colicky baby (at the age that colic occurs) is not in any way capable of understanding that this is intended as a “discincentive” to the crying. And to be clear, that baby is crying because they are in genuine distress.

However, what we need to recognise is how significant colic is as a risk factor in shaken baby syndrome. Because it is no help to anybody judging after the event. We need to help people BEFORE they get to the point that they snap. That’s the only way to really make a difference.

Again, I’m really conscious of how emotional and serious this issue is, so I want to be extremely clear: please don’t take this to mean that I’m condoning what happened in this particular case, including making any statement about what access this mother should or should not have to her surviving child.

I simply want to highlight the risks when the wrong set of circumstances collide. This is illustrated by a Canadian study from 2006 that showed a correlation between baby crying and the incidence of shaken baby syndrome. This study noted that the “importance of crying as a stimulus to shaken baby syndrome may provide an opportunity for preventative intervention”.

Parents of babies that cry excessively are suffering sleep deprivation, going through massive life changes, listening to a sound that we are biologically wired to find stressful, feeling helpless, exhausted and wondering if it will ever end, at the same time as enduring other fallout from the massive pressure that colic puts on family relationships. Parents of colicky babies are often given simplistic and out of date information telling them that there is nothing that they can do except wait 3 months for it to pass, which robs them of hope and then effectively hands them a 3 month sentence to simply endure the torture.

Three months doesn’t sound that long to a normal person, but when you are sleep deprived and the screaming lasts for hours at a time on a daily basis, it feels like an eternity that you might not be able to make it through. All that is a great recipe for terrible things to happen, things that would never occur under other circumstances.

It is critical that we start to talk about it, so that people realise how common colic can be, how stressful it is and make plans in advance for how they would cope if they get to the end of their tether. Those ‘plans in advance’ are the key to averting real disaster.

If we can talk about it, parents of colicky babies will know that they are not alone, they’ll have a chance to mentally prepare themselves and we can focus on getting people quality information about what they CAN do that can help their baby. Because there are things that can help - it just doesn’t have to be as bad as it is for many people.

If you have any concerns about your baby’s health or the frequency or duration of your baby’s crying, please consult your doctor (please do not just assume your baby has colic because there are other serious medical conditions that can have similar symptoms).

If you have any concerns or questions about postnatal depression or if you feel you are not coping with your baby’s crying, please reach out for help. You can contact your doctor, PANDA: Post and Antenatal Depression Association: www.panda.org.au or Beyond Blue www.beyondblue.org.au.

]]>Baby Constipation and What is "Normal" Poo?Jen LesterTue, 07 Oct 2014 05:39:09 +0000http://www.survivorsguidetocolic.com/blogentries/constipation52d90363e4b093afad1ad219:530d9967e4b0e5f490d80a5e:54336f20e4b01b0289a524c9When babies go red in the face and strain to pass a poo, it is common for
parents to wonder if their little one has constipation. Its also very
common to wonder whether the latest contents of your baby's nappy is
"normal". Check out the latest blog for answers.

Until I became a parent, I had no idea it was possible to have so many conversations about poo… I did not expect that a sweet little bubba, with that heavenly newborn scent, could generate so much (and so many varieties) of conversation-worthy poo.

There’s the exploding poo nappies (you know, the ones that arrive with a blast you can feel and are juicy enough to travel up the back, the front and out the sides). There’s the surprising colour and content variations (one of my recent favourites were the sultanas that my son just adores and which pass right through seemingly unaffected by their travels). And of course there’s that infamous parental right of passage: toddler poo painting…

Not only did I never expect to have conversations about it, the last thing I'd ever have believed was that I would be blogging about poo... particularly having been raised in a house where euphemisms were always used instead: a baby was “busy” or was “doing their business”, with “poo” referred to as “biz”. But putting delicacies aside, given how many parents wonder about this issue and what is “normal”, this is an important conversation to have.

Newborn Constipation?

So lets go back a few steps to newborn days, when for my hubby and I, talking about poo was a bit more unusual. I vividly remember in those early colic days when our little man wouldn’t stop screaming and we were still trying to figure out what was wrong. We noticed that his face would go red and he would seem to strain when passing a poo. We asked each other, could he be constipated?

After a bit of research I discovered that this is a common concern for new parents and ESPECIALLY for parents of babies who are crying excessively and are trying to find solutions. If you have a colicky baby, who is pulling their knees to their chest, with clenched fists and who also seems to go red in the face and strain to pass a poo, its not a big leap to wonder whether constipation could be your real villain.

Constipation is a condition where it is difficult for a baby to pass a stool (poo). When it occurs it is often because a baby is not getting enough fluid in their diet. Understanding that, it will make more sense to you when I say that constipation is actually fairly uncommon in the age group of babies most commonly affected by colic, from newborn to 4 months (or longer), because these babies are not yet on solids and all their nutrition is coming from milk.

One thing that reassures many parents is learning that lots of healthy babies will go red in the face and strain when they are doing a normal poo. This is only a sign of constipation if the poo is also hard. Constipated poo is firm, dry and crumbly or pebbly pellets.

It is quite rare for breastfed babies to be affected by constipation. Formula fed babies could be affected by constipation if their formula is not made up correctly and does not contain enough water. And some babies can get constipated if a hard poo has caused a tear in the rectum or anus, which hurts them. They instinctively hold on, so the remaining poo gets hard and more difficult to push out.

If you remain concerned that your baby may be constipated please talk about it with your doctor or your child and maternal health care nurse.

So when it comes to Poo – What is Normal?

The next thing to know is that there is a massive variety in “normal” poo. There is variation in:

How Often: this will start off as several times a day and then may change to a couple of days between poos or anywhere in between;

Colour:

Breastfed babies: most commonly a mustardy yellow-orange colour (but can sometimes be green, although if you are getting frequent green, please consult your doctor or child and maternal health nurse);

Formula-fed babies: can vary in colour from yellow, to yellow-brown or grey-yellow, tan-brown or green-brown. Changes in formula can also produce changes in colour.

Bubs on solids: Will vary considerably in colour, depending on what they’ve eaten.

Consistency:

Breastfed babies: usually be quite runny;

Formula-fed babies: generally firmer (less runny) than for breast-fed babies, but should still be reasonably soft;

Bubs on solids: can include solids that appear undigested (this is generally because your baby’s digestive system is still developing).

Smell:

Breastfed babies: not too bad

Formula-fed babies: definitely podgier;

Bubs on solids: will vary, but can sometimes have you wishing for a gas mask!

Things to Watch out For:

Please consult your doctor or maternal and child health nurse if your baby has any of the following:

Dry poo that is crumbly or has formed pellets (indicator of constipation);

Streaks of blood (could be caused by constipation or other issues);

Diarrhoea - poo that is runnier than usual or even watery (can be serious as this can lead to dehydration, especially if your baby is also vomiting);

Green frothy poo - having some green poo can be normal, but if it seems to happen frequently or if its REALLY green its worth seeking advice (it can have several causes including your baby getting too much lactose, allergy or infection).

Hope this little venture into the yucky has been helpful. Give me a laugh and let me know what other names you (or your family) use for poo?

]]>What Sound is Most Effective for Settling Babies?Jen LesterFri, 26 Sep 2014 21:23:27 +0000http://www.survivorsguidetocolic.com/blogentries/2014/9/26/what-sound52d90363e4b093afad1ad219:530d9967e4b0e5f490d80a5e:54254c97e4b0daad27ed6018If you’re the parent of an unsettled baby, chances are you’ve already taken
to Google and discovered a whole range of products that claim to be the
most effective sound to help settle your baby – so how do you figure out
what sound works best?

If you’re the parent of an unsettled baby, chances are you’ve already taken to Google and discovered a whole range of products that claim to be the most effective sound to help settle your baby – so how do you figure out what sound works best?

The good news is that you’re on the right track to find something that can help. Various studies have shown that continuous noise quiets infants. The reason for this is that the inside of a mother’s body is actually quite a noisy place. There are the rumbles of the digestive system, the sound of her heartbeat, and the swooshing of blood through her veins. So newborn babies are used to hearing continuous recurring noise. Silence is actually a strange thing for them, so by supplying some continuous sound you’re re-creating a more familiar environment for your little one.

On the basis of trying to recreate a sound that is most similar to the inside of a mother’s body, there are a number of experts that are strong advocates of “white noise” – strong static sounds (with or without a heartbeat added). To me this has a degree of inherent sense to it, if you accept the basic premise that you’re trying to recreate similar sounds to a baby’s experience before birth. It has been suggested that low and rumbly white noise works better, on the theory that before they are born a baby’s ears are full of amniotic fluid, which changes the sound. This is consistent with the reports from lots of mums that their babies sleep better with the sound of the vacuum cleaner or the tumble dryer in the background.

However, what is really interesting is a scientific study that found that heartbeats, metronome beats and lullabies were all just as effective as each other.

So that tends to indicate is that it may not really matter what form of continuous noise you chose, as long as it is fairly simple and repetitive. Perhaps babies are not quite as fussy as we might think! To me that’s sensational news, because it means you’ve got room to choose what works for you, and to adapt if you find that your little one has a strong preference of their own.

You’ll hear all sorts of anecdotes from other parents about their baby’s surprising choices in music for example, including a few bubs that have a taste for hard rock. Interestingly to me, most of the stories I’ve heard involve songs with a strong beat or recurring sound. For example, our son had a thing for the Glee version of “Don’t Stop Believin’”. Personally the Journey version is my favourite, but Oli strongly disagreed and that song would work when nothing else would (to the raised eyebrows of my maternal and child health nurse). Based on what I know now, I’d say it was the repetitive “doo, doo, doo, doo” of the a Capella version that appealed to him.

When you think about it from this angle, it also makes sense that traditional lullabies tend to be very simple and repetitive melodies. So for the singers out there, you might need to hold off on your Les Miserables in favour of “Baa Baa Black Sheep”. Famously on one long car trip when our little man was resisting sleep (and desperately in need of it) it took 126 rounds of Baa Baa Black Sheep to convince him to nod off. My best friend therefore suggests picking something like “Old MacDonald” or “Wheels on the Bus” instead, because at least there’s a tiny bit of variation to help preserve the sanity of the singer. ;)

Bearing in mind that options that don’t depend on your own voice are critical to you getting sleep, here’s some of my favourites:

The Cloud B Sleep Sheep: Ridiculously cute and easy to use, I loved this one when our son was a newborn. With 4 different soothing sounds: heartbeat, ocean waves, rain and whale songs, my favourite part was that it has a sleep timer so you can choose whether that sound runs for 23 or 45 minutes. See: http://amzn.to/1DCfIVY

Get this… there is now a sound sensing version of the Sleep Sheep… This means you don’t have to get up to turn it on when your little one stirs in the night, it turns on all by itself if it detects noise from your baby… (but doesn’t keep running all night for those that are worried about bubs becoming “addicted” to white noise). I haven’t tried this one, so I’d really love to hear feedback from any parents that have, but at face value it sounds like a sleep deprived parent’s best friend! Check it out at: http://amzn.to/1rocfUo

Music for Dreaming: A big favourite in our house (and still very much used by us today). Music lovers will adore this one – it’s a collection of gorgeous classic lullabies played by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, but the real value for parents comes from the thought that was put into the production of the album to make it helpful for sleep: there are no big gaps between the songs, there’s not too much variation between the loud and soft notes, and the songs are in similar keys so your little one can float easily and peacefully from one song to the next. Here’s an iTunes link: http://bit.ly/YikdEj.

Have you found any other great settling sound options? I'd love to hear (and I'm sure there's a few weary parents out there that would also love to hear your tips).

]]>A Real Reason to Scream - Could Colic be Infant Migraine?Jen LesterSat, 05 Jul 2014 06:16:25 +0000http://www.survivorsguidetocolic.com/blogentries/2014/7/5/a-real-reason-to-scream52d90363e4b093afad1ad219:530d9967e4b0e5f490d80a5e:53b79613e4b0cb9c953f04d7I just read a new colic development that was so exciting & interesting I
wanted to share it with you straight away...

You haven’t heard much from me lately (as I've been flat out with the rest of my life), but I just read a new development that was so exciting and significant, that I wanted to share it with you straight away! As you’re probably aware, one of the big challenges with colic is that doctors don’t really know for certain what it is and the leading experts disagree about what causes it. See my earlier article “So What IS Colic Anyway?” for more info about this.

However, an interesting new theory is emerging, suggesting that infant colic may be an “age-sensitive” form of migraine.

Dr Amy Gelfand, MD, who is a child neurologist and an Assistant Professor in the department of Clinical Neurology and Pediatrics, at the University of California, has led an analysis of studies that examined the association between infant colic and migraine (and included a secondardy analysis of studies that collected data on infant colic and migraine but had a different primary research question).

Interestingly, from the data Dr Gelfand and her colleagues reviewed they found that infants whose moms had migraine were 2.6 times more likely to have colic. Another study found that children or adolescents with migraine were 6.6 times more likely to have had infantile colic than those without migraine.

Now, its still a theory of course and one of many theories about the cause of colic, but here’s what I REALLY want you to take away from this. If you’re at home, struggling with a baby who won’t stop crying, you are not alone. And your baby’s problem is VERY real. We may not yet know for sure what causes it, but there are researchers all around the world who are working to figure it out. That includes child neurologists like Dr Gelfand and her colleagues.

So don’t ever fall victim to those dreadful colic myths: “colic is not real” or "your baby is just difficult/fussy”. Hang in there, the problem is real and you are going to get through it together.

So what do you do in the meantime? The team that are looking into this study recommend safe and relatively inexpensive means of trying to settle their baby, including giving acetaminophen (Tylenol), reducing stimulation and holding your baby. Having been through this myself, I know that won’t sound like much help, so do feel free to check out all the other options in my book, including the ‘baby-whisperer’ settling techniques and other options like Wilby’s colic mix. If you’re in Australia, be aware that doctors here tend to suggest Baby Panadol, rather than Tyelnol, but as always please seek your doctor’s advice before giving medication to your baby.

Take care out there,

Jen

]]>Daycare GermFestJen LesterMon, 21 Apr 2014 22:48:57 +0000http://www.survivorsguidetocolic.com/blogentries/2014/4/22/daycaregermfest52d90363e4b093afad1ad219:530d9967e4b0e5f490d80a5e:53559b98e4b0e10db1983ed7Since our son started daycare, for the last couple of months we’ve been
sick, pretty much non-stop. What are your tips for avoiding the dreaded
daycare lurgies?For the last couple of months or so we’ve been sick, pretty much non-stop.

There was gastro bout #1,

followed by cold #1,

followed by croup (VERY scary),

followed by gastro bout #2,

and now cold #2 (a nasty one).

That’s a lot of bugs in a short space of time…

My gorgeous hubby has a turbo-charged immune system, so he’s managed to fight off most of the lurgies, which was lucky because he’s done a fabulous job of looking after Oli and I while we bore the full brunt.

I have to admit that at this point we’re all feeling rather run down. Once upon a time, in the land before children, when you were sick you could just curl up in bed for a few days with a book or a DVD and generally feel sorry for yourself. Looking back, uninterrupted time to just ‘be sick’ seems like such a luxury, doesn't it? Now there’s a little one to take care of, no matter how you’re feeling, and when that poor little one is crook too then you’re up through the night caring for him (so you’re extra tired, run down and more susceptible to catching the next bug).

We were warned to expect it… not that a warning really helps much.

When the dollars start to run down, its time to go back to work. And when its time to go back to work, for most people that means finding childcare (unless you’re lucky enough to have alternatives).

We were incredibly lucky with the daycare centre that we happened to get a space at, it’s a wonderful co-operative staffed with enthusiastic educators and an environment that’s perfect for our little “explorer”. Oli goes 3 days a week and he absolutely LOVES it. I didn’t have particularly strong views about daycare prior to this, in our case it was simply necessary, but after watching how much it has helped his development and the incredible range of activities he enjoys there, I’m a definite convert!

But, this whole constantly being sick thing is the pits! Truth is, I am really knackered and I just can’t face the thought of picking up yet another bug. So, I’d REALLY love to hear your ideas/tips/suggestions for avoiding catching the daycare lurgies!

Is there ANYTHING you can do??? (Other than the obvious basic hygiene practices, including not sending him back to daycare until he’s better, of course). Or is this just a rite of passage that we all have to endure at some point? Either you go through it in daycare or at the start of school?

And if theres nothing you can do – I’d love to hear any other tips on caring for a sick 1 year old or anything that entertained your little one while they were sick or tempted them to eat when their usual favourites aren’t working.

Take care out there,

Jen

]]>The Very Latest on ProbioticsJen LesterWed, 02 Apr 2014 10:15:50 +0000http://www.survivorsguidetocolic.com/blogentries/2014/4/2/probioticsmarch1452d90363e4b093afad1ad219:530d9967e4b0e5f490d80a5e:533bde94e4b01d79d0ae66aaThe latest study on probiotics was published yesterday (1st April 2014),
but sadly it wasn’t an April Fools joke. It appears to dash the hopes
previously held for probiotics as a treatment for infant colic. This
Australian based study of 167 breast-fed and formula fed infants found that
the group of colicky babies that received the probiotics actually cried
MORE than the control group. So what gives?!

Latest Australian study:

The latest study on probiotics was published yesterday (1st April 2014), but sadly it wasn’t an April Fools joke. It appears to dash the hopes previously held for probiotics as a treatment for infant colic. This Australian based study of 167 breast-fed and formula fed infants found that the group of colicky babies that received the probiotics actually cried MORE than the control group.

Latest Italian study:

Interestingly these results are is in contrast with the very latest Italian study published on 1st March 2014, which was consistent with some other probiotics studies (see my previous blog about Probiotics for more information). This study of 589 babies found that the babies who were proactively given probiotics for the first 3 months of their life had nearly half the crying duration at 3 months and had reduced regurgitation.

What the !??! I hear you say….

The same probiotic was used by both studies (Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938) and both studies were quite robustly designed from a scientific perspective, so how could the results be totally different? That’s the question.

There is one key difference between the two trials: the Australian study focused on treating babies who had colic (after they were identified as having colic), whereas the Italian study treated a general group of babies proactively from shortly after birth for the first 3 months.

So one possibility is that starting probiotics ASAP after birth makes all the difference, but another possibility is that it might have helped babies generally but didn’t assist babies with colic.

One Interesting Quirk About the Australian Study

The Australian study had one interesting quirk that’s worth mentioning. It used a MODIFIED version of the traditional definition of colic to decide which babies would participate in the study. The traditional definition is a baby who is otherwise healthy and has had his/her needs met, but is still crying for more than 3 hours a day, for more than 3 days in a week, for more than 3 weeks.

The inclusion criteria for the Australian study modified this definition in 2 ways:

In determining crying duration they included both full blown crying and also “fussing”, which was defined as “behaviour that is not quite crying but not awake and content either”; and

They dropped the 3 weeks requirement and just used more than 3 hours of crying/fussing for 3 days or more over 7 days.

The reason this is interesting is that I believe there may be more than one underlying cause of colic. Some babies may be crying for hours because they have a gastrointestinal issue and others because they are overstimulated and in need of advanced settling techniques. (You can read more about this in the book).

By softening the traditional definition and including babies who are “fussing”, it makes me wonder if its possible they included more cases that were NOT gastrointestinally caused colic. Since probiotics are aiming to treat a gastrointestinal issue they wouldn’t have helped babies whose underlying problem was not gastrointestinal, and that makes me wonder if this could have skewed the results?

So Should Babies be Proactively Put on Probiotics from Birth?

Whilst the various Italian studies give some evidence in support of this, other doctors disagree. Yesterday’s editorial by William Bennett in the British Medical Journal described preventative probiotics use as a “hammer looking for a nail”.

He says: “we know little about the acquisition and development of the microbiota in an infant’s gut. We are far from a sufficiently thorough understanding that would allow us to link changes in specific bacterial populations to changes in infant behaviour, given the enormous variation and complexity of both behaviour and microbiome composition between and among individuals. …This all points to our strikingly poor understanding of the normal intestinal milieu in infants, so we should hesitate to proclaim victory over colic just yet, or to aggressively alter the development of intestinal microbiota without a better understanding of normal intestinal development.”

In other words, Bennett means that we don’t know what the other impacts might be of proactively giving babies probiotics.

Jen’s View

Have to say that this latest Australian study is not encouraging… And Bennett (and others) have valid concerns about the lack of knowledge about what the other impacts of probiotic use might be.

If I had another baby and if I was making a decision for my family alone, would I run that risk and give my next baby probiotics from around a week old as a preventative? Well I’ve lived through the hell of our son’s colic, so based on current knowledge I probably would. But that’s purely my personal choice (not a recommendation).

What do you think? Would you give your baby (or your next one) probiotics?

Yesterday was a big day in SGTC world. I was delighted to discover that an article I’d written had been published by Mouths of Mums (in partnership with Yahoo 7), sharing my top 5 tips for “Surviving (and Thriving) in Mothers’ Group”.

I was very lucky to have a wonderful mothers’ group, which turned out to be full of supportive and really fun mums. However since our colic challenges were so blindingly obvious, it took every last bit of my courage to keep turning up:

“We’re not talking cute little grizzles here, we’re talking full-blown screams you can hear from the next street…Can you imagine how much I feared those screams in a room full of other newborns who were lying peacefully on laps, gazing up at their mummies, whilst gurgling and cooing?”

I know that my fears weren’t unique: mother’s group can be a daunting experience for many mums for lots of different reasons (I’m sure we’ve all heard our share of horror stories about groups full of judgy mums with “perfect” babies). So having been very glad in the end that I did persevere, that’s what prompted me to share my top 5 tips to make the most of the experience. You can read those tips here.

But what I want to talk about today stemmed from the comments on that article – they really blew me away. Mums bravely and honestly shared their stories in those comments, which included some really interesting and unusual experiences. For example I loved the story from one mum about what it was like being a new mum of an adoptive baby and feeling very ‘different’ because she hadn’t been through the pregnancy and labour experience. But the common theme that united most comments was one of vulnerability and the fear (or the reality) of being judged.

What IS it about motherhood that brings out this fear so strongly?

Sure there are always compulsive perfectionists like me that hate to feel like they are getting anything wrong, but I think it might be something deeper than that… The fear of ‘getting it wrong’ or acknowledging that we’re having problems or difficulties as a mum seems so much more exaggerated, the vulnerability so much more powerful.

I’d love to hear what you think – is there something primal about our motherhood vulnerability? Perhaps the drive to do the best we can for our kids (and therefore the fear of not measuring up) is instinctive? Or does it just come out so strongly in the context of mothers’ group because it is usually a group of brand new mums, who have just gone through major life changes and are trying to figure out a whole lot of new things for the first time - because new experiences often bring out our vulnerabilities.

I don’t know about you, but when I’m feeling vulnerable, I have to confess that my knee jerk reaction is to pull up my ‘perfectionism shield’ quick smart so that nobody can hurt me/judge me. I KNOW that its not constructive though, so I usually work really hard to do the opposite. But staying open takes a big effort - its like fighting my natural instincts.

So if I extrapolate that to other mums, maybe that’s where this problem of judgy ‘perfect’ mum issue really stems from? From a mum who’s scared of not measuring up and unfortunately her reaction to that fear is to throw up her shields which actually triggers the fears of other mums around her…

What do you think? Am I being overly generous or am I onto something here?

For me, I think the next time I run across a mum who’s trying very hard to convince me that she and/or her baby is perfect, I’m going to try hard to remember that behaviour is probably stemming directly from the fear that she (or her baby) ISN’T perfect.

And I’m going to grab every last bit of my mummy courage and share as much understanding and compassion as I can, combined with letting her see some of my own vulnerability, in the hope that might just break the cycle.

]]>Manipulating the Spines of Babies – Colic & Chiropractors?Jen LesterSun, 23 Mar 2014 00:10:50 +0000http://www.survivorsguidetocolic.com/blogentries/2014/3/23/manipulating-babies-spines-chiropractic-and-colic52d90363e4b093afad1ad219:530d9967e4b0e5f490d80a5e:532e23fae4b0e9d45dd40c73Following on from some of the recent annecdotes on the Facebook page, I
thought it was a great opportunity to give you some more info about
chiropractic treatment for babies with colic.

There’s been some great engagement on the Survivor’s Guide to Colic Facebook page lately, thanks everyone!!

Since some of the recent anecdotes have been about chiropractors, I thought it was a great opportunity to give you some more information about chiropractic treatment for babies with colic.

When Oliver had colic and I was frantically trying to figure out how to help him, I remember finding the totally opposing views about colic treatments really confusing at first. It was also hard to figure out what to do when everybody had their own anecdote about what worked for them (and they were all different).

So that’s why with Survivor’s Guide to Colic, my aim is to help you navigate your way through the maze of conflicting information about colic. I don’t believe in ‘bossy rules’ or telling you what you “should” do. In the world of babies there seem to be so many people who tell you that you “MUST” do this/that/the other. I’ve never been keen on those kind of black and white approaches – why does this seem to happen more with babies than any other topic? And honestly, I don’t think there’s many people out there who enjoy being told what to do!!

Instead, my approach is to give you clear, succinct information about both perspectives on any solution and back it up with references to any medical research, so that you can quickly get across the debate and then make your own decision. I’ll let you know what I think, in case you find that helpful, but at the end of the day I’m all about empowering you as parents to make your own informed choices.

Below is a summary in the same format that I use in the book:

Spinal Manipulation

Advocates: Chiropractors

Why: Chiropractors believe that colic is due to subluxation (nerve dysfunction) that they believe may have resulted from birth trauma. Chiropractors manipulate the baby’s spine to relieve the subluxations. There have been some small studies that indicated a benefit to chiropractic manipulations for colicky babies.

Alternative Views: The largest study with the best scientific method showed NO difference in outcomes between colicky babies that had spinal manipulation and those that did not. There was no differences in outcome according to parent’s reports or the hours of crying recorded.

The small studies that chiropractors refer to as evidence have been criticised for having poor scientific design that may have impacted the results, for example there was room for unconscious biases and one study did not record the number of dropouts and reasons for dropping out.

Jen’s View: I am generally quite open to alternative and traditional medicine and I've used a chiropractor myself for back issues that I had at one point. However, the evidence just doesn’t stack up for me when it comes to chiropractic treatment for colic. Some parents do report that it was helpful for their babies (which is great - because with colic if you find something that works for you, that's all you need). However, given that the largest study on chiropractic treatment with the best scientific design showed NO DIFFERENCE in overall crying times, my suggestion would be to focus on some of the other more promising options instead.

If you're interested in reading more about colic, you can download the first two chapters of Survivor's Guide to Colic for FREE. Just register your details on the right hand side of the page and then you'll see a link to download the first two chapters.

Here's some of the research papers I've referred to if you want to read more about research into chiropractic treatments for colic:

Mercer C, Nook B. The efficacy of chiroprac- tic spinal adjustments as a treatment protocol in the management of infantile colic. Presented at: 5th Biennial Congress of the World Federation of Chiropractic. Auckland, New Zealand; May 17, 1999

]]>Why Colicky Babies are NOT Just ‘Fussy’Jen LesterFri, 14 Mar 2014 11:17:19 +0000http://www.survivorsguidetocolic.com/blogentries/2014/3/14/why-colicky-babies-are-not-just-fussy52d90363e4b093afad1ad219:530d9967e4b0e5f490d80a5e:5322e3b9e4b040b6d1ffcb26Check out why the term ‘fussy babies’ really gets Jen’s goat and why
sometimes even powerful advanced settling techniques might not workWHAT is with this term ‘fussy’ babies? And how on earth has this word become used to describe colicky babies who scream for hours? In some countries the terms ‘fussy baby’ and ‘colicky baby’ are even becoming synonymous…

Here’s why that REALLY gets my goat: the word ‘fussy’ means hard to please, worrying over trifles, whining, fretting about details. It’s a word that fundamentally implies that the baby doesn’t have a real problem, its just being ‘choosy’ or ‘particular’ about what will make it happy.

Now I’m sure there are babies who are a bit particular about how they like things, but its not a word that makes any sense to me when applied to a colicky baby. By definition, a baby with colic is otherwise healthy and has had all their needs met, but is still screaming for more than 3 hours a day, for more than 3 days a week, for more than 3 weeks. We’re talking about a baby with a terrible pain-like expression on their face and the sound that they’re making isn’t just a bit of a grizzle, it’s a high-pitched shriek that sounds genuinely distressed.

Who in their right mind could spend any length time with a baby in that condition and think “Oh that baby is just being a bit choosy”? Clearly there is a problem!

My guess is that this belittling word ‘fussy’ has crept in as a by-product of the views expressed by Dr Harvey Karp in his popular book “The Happiest Baby on the Block”. Karp’s theory is that colic is not caused by a gastro-intestinal issue and all that affected babies need to calm are settling techniques which provide auditory and physical stimulation that mimics the womb environment.

Now I do agree that the right settling techniques can be incredibly powerful. I was amazed at the effectiveness of the Magic settling technique that I learned from renowned Melbourne baby-whisperer Angela MacPherson. We had done similar sorts of things with Oliver before that (including making use of Dr Karp’s “5 S’s”), but it was astonishing to discover that if you combined those settling elements in just the right way it took settling to a whole new level. (You can read more about this in my book).

However, to me it is quite telling that parents’ reviews of Dr Karp’s book tend to be completely polarised. On the one had there are those who swear by his techniques, and on the other hand there are reviews by devastated parents who have tried their hardest, diligently “shhh’ing” and “swinging” (jiggling) for hours on end and it just hasn’t been enough.

Now why would the reports from parents be so polarised? I believe that its because:

For some babies, settling techniques will be enough (it was all they needed);

For other babies, advanced techniques (like the Magic Settling Technique in my book) are powerful enough to settle babies despite their underlying gastrointestinal problems; and

Other babies will be in such distress that even advanced techniques may fail.

I think its REALLY important for parents to know that although advanced techniques are powerful, there is still a possibility that they might not work. Acknowledging this is critical, so that parents know that it is not because THEY are failing, but rather because their baby has an underlying issue that is causing the problem. Doing your best for a colicky baby and having your best efforts fall short feels bad enough, without somebody making you feel like the failure is yours or that your baby is just being ‘fussy’.

The thing to remember is that Dr Karp’s belief that colic does not have a gastrointestinal cause is just ONE theory. Many other doctors disagree and there are a number of theories about what the gastrointestinal culprit might be. However, the bottom line is that nobody has been able to provide a conclusive answer. (See "So What IS Colic Anyway?" for more information).

So lets look at this as a matter of logic:

Babies with colic LOOK like they’re in pain and they sound like they’re in significant distress; and

Nobody can prove what the cause of that distress is.

In that case doesn’t it seem sensible that we give those babies the benefit of the doubt? And if they have a significant problem, doesn’t it seem demeaning to call them ‘fussy’, as if its somehow their fault or they are just being difficult?

Personally I vote we ban the term ‘fussy babies’! Do you agree, or do you think your baby was just ‘fussy’?

Also I’d love to hear your settling stories: successes and failures – please feel free to share them here. I believe that if we ‘colic survivors’ can share our experiences more, it will help those going through it now to know they are not alone.

Take care out there,

Jen

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]]>Are Probiotics the Answer to Colic?Jen LesterMon, 10 Mar 2014 21:27:38 +0000http://www.survivorsguidetocolic.com/blogentries/2014/3/11/probiotics52d90363e4b093afad1ad219:530d9967e4b0e5f490d80a5e:531e2c39e4b0f6dda98f0504We can thank the Italians for some of the best things in life – good
coffee, pasta, romance… Can we also thank them for the answer to colic?
Check out the latest research and those who disagree. What’s your view?Update 2014/04/02 - Since this article was published, new research has come to light on the use of probiotics to treat colic. For my latest thoughts on probiotics see: The Very Latest on Probiotics

We can thank the Italians for some of the best things in life – good coffee, great pasta, my daydreams of a romantic gondola ride with the man who adores me… Can we also thank them for the answer to colic?

Some really encouraging colic research has come out of Italy this year. A large study of 589 infants reported that the babies who proactively received probiotics from their first few days of life had:

nearly a 50% reduction in crying time;

less regurgitation and constipation;

significantly less pediatric emergency department visits;

fewer lost parental working days; and

less use of agents to promote gastrointestinal comfort,

compared to the babies that received the placebo.

Now as a mum of a baby who screamed for hours at a time, results like that catch my attention fast! What I find interesting is that those results are consistent with a 2010 study that also showed a 50% reduction in crying time for babies that received probiotics.

How do Probiotics Work?

The bottom line is that nobody knows what causes colic for certain, but one theory is that affected babies have problems with the types of microflora (micro-organisms like bacteria) in their gut. A small 2013 study reported that infants with colic showed lower diversity and stability in their gut microflora than the control group. The theory is that the microflora imbalance affects gut function, including movement through the intestines and gas production.

The researchers in this latest Italian study said that “colonies of lactobacillus reuteri appear to reduce intestinal inflammation, improve movement in the intestines and lessen sensitivity to pain… but more research is needed to understand exactly what the bacterium does in the body.”

Conflicting Results:

It is still early days in investigating probiotics and many doctors think there is still insufficient evidence to recommend them for general preventative use. The difficulty is that there are other studies that had conflicting results – studies where the probiotics didn’t appear to work. Some doctors are also concerned that little is known about the long term effects of probiotics use in babies.

My View?

It is far from a slam dunk yet, but the evidence on probiotics is encouraging. One important point for me is that there were no adverse events (scientific-speak for bad side effects) reported in either the 2010 study or the 2014 study. So when I had my own screaming baby, I was definitely willing to give probiotics a shot. The baby probiotics we used with Oliver were a different strain to the one used in this latest study (we used BabyBiotics from BioCeuticals). Although it wasn’t an instant fix for us, I think it probably did help.

You can buy baby probiotics from your local pharmacy. It wasn’t too hard to use – depending on the type you get it comes either in drops or in a powder. If it’s the powder you can mix it with expressed milk or formula. We used to just mix it with some water on a teaspoon to make a runny paste and he’d swallow it from the teaspoon.

The thing to remember about probiotics is that you are working to change your baby’s gut flora, so it won’t be an instant fix - it might take a week or two to start having an impact.

What If it Doesn’t Work For Your Baby?

If you’ve already tried probiotics and they haven’t helped your baby – don’t worry, the cause of your baby’s colic might be something else. I believe its likely that there’s more than one cause of excessive crying in babies. To read more about the causes of colic, check out my recent post: “So What IS Colic Anyway?”

The sound of a baby crying for hours at a time can be heartbreaking. When our son had colic, I remember once thinking that terrible ear-piercing wail was the ultimate sound of failure. I worried that it was somehow my fault and that I was failing my baby right from the outset. They were fears so deep and powerful that I couldn’t have voiced them at the time.

It wasn’t until some time later that I discovered research studies showing that those fears were groundless. I really wished that I’d had that information earlier and so I thought it was important to share it with other parents of ‘fussy’ babies that cry excessively.

Common Worry #1: Is It Because I’m Anxious/Stressed?

Having a baby that screams for hours at a time can leave even the most hardy of souls feeling stressed. For example, I’m a veteran at handling work stress (life as a corporate lawyer will teach you that), and I’ve been through some challenging life experiences that have taught me strong resilience skills, but living with a colicky baby had my stress levels off the charts. My husband is renowned for his relaxed and cruisy nature and even he describes that period of our lives as ‘just horrendous’.

So if you have a baby with colic and you’re feeling stressed out, don’t worry, that is a completely normal response to a difficult situation. Its pretty self evident, but there’s even research that confirms that most parents find having a colicky baby to be very stressful.

However, sometimes people may notice that you’re finding things a bit rough and are not your usual chilled-out self. With the best of intentions, those people will sometimes suggest that your baby would be fine if you could just relax - there is a prevailing urban myth out there that colic is caused by parental anxiety.

It may help to know that this myth is simply unfounded. Researchers have conducted a whole raft of studies investigating whether there is a psychosocial cause of colic and found no evidence that parental anxiety causes colic. For example, even in a study where trained occupational therapists cared for colicky infants, they still cried for twice as long as infants without colic.

Now, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t aim to relax as much as you can. Obviously if you can reduce your stress levels that’s going to benefit everyone: you, your baby and your partner. However, you can rest assured that it is not your stress that is causing the colic, and it is very normal for the colic to cause you stress. Sometimes just knowing that can help a little.

Common Worry #2: Am I No Good At Parenting?

The next big worry for parents of colicky babies is that their baby’s excessive crying is because they have poor parenting skills. For example one research study showed that mothers of colicky babies reported feeling less competent as mothers (not that they were less competent, but that they felt that way). Perhaps this isn’t something you’re thinking consciously, but somewhere deep down where those niggling doubts lurk, its common to wonder: “am I a terrible mum (or dad) that I can’t comfort my own baby?” I know that thought occurred to me…

The most commonly accepted medical definition of colic is a baby whose needs have all been met and who is otherwise healthy, but who cries for more than 3 hours a day, more than 3 days a week for more than 3 weeks. A key symptom of colic is that the baby is very difficult/impossible to console by cuddling and soothing.

It is really important to absorb that for a second – practically by definition, a baby with colic will be very difficult to settle. So the fact that you’re finding it hard is simply because your baby has colic, it is not because you’re no good at parenting.

So when you watch a friend or someone in your new parents group quickly and easily calm their grizzly baby, you don’t need to wonder if they share a special bond that you’re missing or if they have some natural maternal/paternal instinct that you lack. The difference is simply that your baby has colic and theirs does not.

Don’t Despair, There are ‘Super Settling Skills’ You Can Learn

Although settling a colicky baby is very difficult, there are specialist skills and tricks of the trade that can help you enormously. For example, there are advanced settling techniques that you can learn that are very effective, even with colicky babies. There are also a whole range of options that you can try that can address the underlying cause/s of your baby’s colic. Once you address the underlying cause/s, you’ll find that settling your baby becomes an entirely different experience. You can check out my book if you want more information about any of this.

Do you have another colic worry lurking that you’d love an answer to? Let me know and I’ll look into it for you.

Take care out there,

Jen

]]>Can Good Burping Help with Colic?Jen LesterTue, 04 Mar 2014 09:25:00 +0000http://www.survivorsguidetocolic.com/blogentries/2014/3/4/burping-secrets52d90363e4b093afad1ad219:530d9967e4b0e5f490d80a5e:531590dfe4b0636ba5970db7Burping Secrets, including a Great Trick for the REALLY Stubborn Burp.
What’s your favourite burping technique? Mine’s the little known number 3.Burping Secrets, including a Great Trick for the REALLY Stubborn Burp

I’m going to use a word that my mother hates – but its really the only word you can use to describe what happened with Oliver. We could call it ‘windy-pops’ or some other cute baby euphemism, but there’s really no glossing over it. He used to fart like a trooper as a newborn. Explosive, loud farts like a grown man trying to be funny. It amazed me that a noise like that could come out of an innocent little baby.

The Lowdown on Burping

Parents of babies with colic will often report that their baby’s crying stops or lessens after passing wind. This leads people to wonder whether a colicky baby’s discomfort relates to swallowed air that isn’t burped back up, then moves through the digestive system and causes the baby discomfort.

Generally doctors think that swallowed air is unlikely to be the real cause of colic, however most people agree that when you don’t manage to get that burp out of your colicky baby it makes life worse by compounding an existing problem. Now many people know the basics of burping, but I’m going to share a few mothercraft secrets here that are not commonly known.

Burping Techniques

Lets start with the basics: The key to any good burping method is having your baby’s back as straight as possible. This gives any air bubbles the clearest path upwards.

Technique #1: Chin Support

This position works really well for very young babies.

Hold the baby on your lap with one hand cradling her chin (make sure it is her chin and not her throat!) and your palm against her chest and the other rubbing her back. Remember to keep her back as straight as possible.

Technique #2: Over the Shoulder

An old favourite for many parents.

Rest your baby’s head over your shoulder, holding him with the closest arm and use your free hand to rub or pat his back.

Technique #3: Sitting Between your Legs

This position works well for babies that are old enough to have some head control.

Sit her on the edge of your seat, between your legs. Then interlace your hands in front of her, with your wrists under her arms, holding her up nice and straight. Then just wait patiently.

A Trick for the REALLY Stubborn Burp:

There is a great trick for getting up that stubborn burp that just won’t come!

Lie your baby on the floor (or your lap) on its back and wait.

After a minute or so, you will see him start to squirm and wriggle (he may even grizzle little). This means the gas has moved around in his stomach.

Sit the baby upright again into one of the burping positions above and wait - the burp should come.

This technique seems to help the air all come together and come up at once, so it can result in a BIG burp that will bring up some milk with it. My suggestion is to start with the other options first (as they’re a little gentler) and keep this one in reserve for the really stubborn burps.

Other Burping Secrets

It took me some time to discover that a big secret to burping is that the baby needs to relax – a crying baby will rarely be able to burp. So if your little bundle of joy is not so happy, there’s some great advanced settling techniques in my book that you can use to get your baby to relax first.

Another little tip that it took me a while to learn is that patience is critical when it comes to burping. It can take ten to fifteen minutes for a burp to come up, particularly for a younger baby. The real secret is to just wait it out.

Many people will try to pound their baby on the back quite hard, in the hope that this will ‘dislodge’ the burp. This is often counter-productive, when you think about it, its very hard to relax (see tip 1 above) when you’re being pounded on the back. If the burp just isn’t coming – try the trick for the stubborn burp above instead.

I have to thank Melbourne’s baby whisperer Angela Macpherson for some of the fabulous information in this post – she is an amazing wealth of knowledge about babies. If you’d like a consultation with Angela please drop me a line and I’ll send you her contact details.

I remember from Oliver’s colic days that it can be surprisingly difficult to find good information about burping. So please feel free to share this post with your friends, mother’s group or anyone else you think might find it helpful.

Take care out there,

Jen

]]>So What IS Colic Anyway?Jen LesterFri, 28 Feb 2014 21:24:43 +0000http://www.survivorsguidetocolic.com/blogentries/2014/3/1/so-what-is-colic-anyway52d90363e4b093afad1ad219:530d9967e4b0e5f490d80a5e:5310fca0e4b05207a03b7b9eWell now if I had a definitive answer for that, I’d be doing better than
the cutting edge of medical science… The trouble with colic is that
doctors don’t really know for certain what it is and the leading experts
disagree about what causes it. There’s even disagreement about the
definition of colic. But heres what we know.The trouble with colic is that doctors don’t really know for certain what it is and the leading experts disagree about what causes it. There’s even disagreement about the definition of colic. However the most commonly accepted medical definition is a baby whose needs have all been met and is otherwise healthy, but who cries for more than 3 hours a day, for more than 3 days, a week for more than 3 weeks.

In other words, the generally accepted medical definition of colic really boils down to “a baby who cries a LOT”. It is very important to rule out a medical cause for your baby’s crying (some medical causes are quite serious), so please see your doctor before assuming that your baby has colic.

Typically this excessive crying:

Begins at around two to four weeks of life;

Can peak at around six to eight weeks of age;

Usually resolves by around twelve to sixteen weeks (although it can continue in some cases until a baby is 5 months or older).

Common symptoms of colic include:

High pitched, piercing crying that lasts for hours at a time;

The baby is very difficult/impossible to console by cuddling or soothing;

Grimacing/Frowning – the baby may look like it is in pain;

Clenched fists;

Knees drawn up to chest;

Can (but does not necessarily) occur in the afternoon/evening;

Reddening of the face;

The baby may pass (loud) wind and around that time the crying stops.

The biggest challenge with colic is that we don’t know for sure what causes it – which leaves a LOT of room for debate about how to treat it. There are 3 main groups of theories about what causes it.

1. Swallowed Air

Some parents of colicky babies report that their little bundle of joy farts louder than a grown man – ours certainly did! Other parents of affected babies notice that their baby often stops crying after he passes wind. This leads people to wonder if their baby’s discomfort relates to swallowed air that isn’t burped back up, moves through the baby’s intestines and becomes ‘trapped’, causing discomfort.

However, doctors tend to focus on a 1969 study in which radiographic images taken during a crying episode showed a normal gastric outline and on this basis, many suggest that excessive gas or wind may NOT be the cause of colic.

Although most experts would agree that swallowed air is not the underlying cause of colic, it can still make an existing problem worse. In other words, taking the time to burp your colicky baby really well, or using a bottle that helps reduce the amount of air your baby swallows, will assist your bub and can reduce the severity of your baby’s colic. However, it probably won’t “fix” the colic, because the underlying cause is more complex/challenging than that.

2. A Gastrointestinal Cause

Many experts believe that there is a gastrointestinal cause of colic – that something in the colicky baby’s digestive system is not working the way it should be and that is causing the pain and gas.

The tricky part is that there are a whole range of possible gastrointestinal culprits, and different researchers/experts have different views on which one is the real perpetrator. For example, there are theories that it might relate to food moving through the stomach and intestines too fast. Gut hormones such as motilin may be involved in this. It may also involve pain signals from sensitised nerves in the gut. Or it could be related to microflora in the digestive system. There are other theories that colic results from lactose intolerance or a temporary deficiency in the enzyme that breaks down lactose.

3. Environmental Factors

There is another camp of experts that believe that environmental factors are the underlying cause. Some experts point to two key factors:

a) Colic commonly occurs in the evenings; andb) Colic usually resolves all by itself when the baby is about four months old,

as evidence that colic is caused by overstimulation of the baby’s psyche. They believe that affected newborns are not getting enough sleep and/or are exposed to more excitement, stimulation and interaction than their little brains are ready to handle. They argue that affected young babies have not yet reached a level of development where they can self soothe and limit their own mental stimulation to a level that they can cope with, and as a result their little brain becomes overloaded and they begin to scream (and can’t stop).

A different perspective (but that also falls within the category of environmental factors) is that colic is caused by ‘under-stimulation’. This theory is that affected babies just need advanced settling techniques that mimic the womb environment in order to calm them down.

My View

OK, so we’ve probably ruled out swallowed air as a cause (although diligent burping and/or reducing the amount of air a baby swallows can assist an affected baby who is already struggling with colic).

In the absence of a clear answer, I believe a real possibility is that BOTH remaining schools of thought may be right (to a degree anyway). One plausible explanation for why different babies appear to respond to different solutions is that they had different underlying problems in the first place.

When you think about it, a distressed baby has one main way to express her discomfort, and that’s by crying (a lot)… And then remember that colic is really just a label that is given to babies that are crying excessively when there is no other medical explanation. To me it seems quite possible that any given group of excessively crying babies in any particular study could actually include babies with DIFFERENT underlying causes for their excessive crying.

So I believe that:

some babies may be crying because of a gastrointestinal issue;

other babies may be crying because they are overstimulated, lacking enough sleep and/or in need of more advanced settling techniques.

This could explain why the researchers haven’t been able to find a treatment that they can prove works for all babies - because their studies have a group of babies that includes both types of underlying problems. A treatment aimed at solving a gastrointestinal issue won’t help a baby whose problem is really overstimulation (or vice versa), so their results won’t show universal success.

Once you see it from this perspective, it is actually quite liberating and the debate about colic starts to make more sense. You can see why one solution doesn’t work for every baby with colic, because we are no longer trying to box them all into the same pigeon hole. When any particular expert tells you ‘the’ solution for babies with colic, you just interpret it through the filter of ‘a solution for [some] babies with colic’. And when your friend swears by the ultimate cure for colic, but it doesn’t work for your baby, its not that your friend was exaggerating, it may just be that your babies just had different causes for their crying.

That’s the reason why I’ve written a book that covers all the solutions that I’ve come across after reading lots of medical research, our own experiences and talking to everyone from baby whisperers to paediatricians and other parents of colicky babies. It’s the reason why I let you know:

who thinks each solution works and why (and what research there is to back up that view); and

who disagrees any why (and any research that supports their view).

That way, you have all the information you need to make informed decisions about what to try to help your baby. Since there is NO universal answer, the best thing I could do to help you was to give you balanced information about all your options.

By the way, if you do come across something that works for you that ISN’T covered in the book, please let me know so that I can update the book and get the word out for other parents of colicky babies.

Take care out there,

Jen

]]>Baby Won't Stop Screaming? You Are Not AloneJen LesterWed, 26 Feb 2014 09:16:06 +0000http://www.survivorsguidetocolic.com/blogentries/2014/2/26/baby-wont-stop-screaming52d90363e4b093afad1ad219:530d9967e4b0e5f490d80a5e:530daf06e4b0be5101289de8I doubt that many people are prepared for a baby that cries for hours
inconsolably, that just can’t be comforted. A baby whose needs have all
been met, but is still screaming that ear-piercing wail, with their little
fists clenched, their knees drawn up to their chest and a terrible grimace
on their little face. My guess is that next-to-nobody is prepared for
that, and yet it happens to a surprisingly high number of babies.I’d say that most new parents are prepared for the reality of a new baby being quite challenging. Sure we all have our pregnant daydreams about gazing peacefully down into the big, loving eyes of our gorgeous new baby... and of course there are always those people with unrealistic expectations about what life with a new baby will be like. But generally, I think most parents-to-be are prepared for the mess, the smells, the broken sleep, the baby vomit and the crying…

Yet I doubt that many people are prepared for a baby that cries for hours inconsolably, that just can’t be comforted. A baby whose needs have all been met, but is still screaming that ear-piercing wail, with their little fists clenched, their knees drawn up to their chest and a terrible grimace on their little face. My guess is that next-to-nobody is prepared for that, and yet it happens to a surprisingly high number of babies.

The most commonly accepted medical definition of ‘colic’ is a baby whose needs have all been met and who is otherwise healthy, but who cries for more than 3 hours a day, more than 3 days a week for more than 3 weeks. Estimates of the incidence of colic vary widely from 5% to 40% of babies being affected, but most people will accept a middle figure of around 20% of babies being affected. That’s one in five babies who are screaming inconsolably for hours at a time

If your baby is crying ‘excessively’ it is important to see your doctor or paediatrician to check for other medical problems (there are a number of serious medical conditions that have similar symptoms to colic, so it is important to get your baby properly checked out). However, if you have been to see your doctor and the verdict was ‘colic’, you are not alone. Only around 5% of those babies who see a doctor because of ‘excessive crying’ will have another underlying organic medical cause. The other 95% fall into the residual diagnosis of ‘colic’ (provided they are crying enough hours to meet the definition above).

If you are one of the unlucky parents who drew the short straw, the chances are that you are exhausted, stressed beyond anything you’ve ever experienced, worried about your baby, maybe arguing with your partner, and wondering if you’re doing something wrong, if you’re not a ‘good’ parent and/or if your baby is just ‘difficult’.

It is also very common for parents of colicky babies to feel alone – because the other babies that you see out and about in the world are almost never the colicky ones (the ones with colic are at home with their desperate parents who are trying to comfort them and struggling to hang onto their sanity). So most parents are unaware of just how common it is to have a baby that cries excessively.

However, if you’re reading this, you can be sure that you’ve found someone who understands what you’re going through. I understand it because I’ve been there myself. I know how distressing it is: for you, your partner and your baby. And I also know just how hard it is to find high quality, balanced information about how to help your baby. That’s what compelled me to write the book. I really hope it helps.